BEFORE: I spent most of today asleep, it's really the first chance I've had to sleep long and try to shake this cold. Between work and getting our heat and then a small plumbing leak repaired, I've been either waiting for repairmen or forcing myself through the workday for the last five days. My wife caught my cold (as always) and she's been asleep most of today as well, but hey, that's what Saturdays are for.
This may seem a little jarring, to go from a part-CGI fantasy epic based on a video-game to a period drama, but that's just the way my linking system works. The crossover today is Glenn Close, who had an uncredited role in "Warcraft". But it was her for sure, that's why I spend so much time reviewing the cast lists on the IMDB.
THE PLOT: Posing as a man so she can work as a butler in Dublin's most elegant hotel, Albert Nobbs struggles to survive in late 19th-century Ireland, then meets a handsome painter and looks to escape the lie she has been living.
AFTER: I don't know how often other people play that "Hey, that's the actor from..." game. For people who don't follow movies that closely, maybe they call it "Hey, where have I seen that guy before?" Obviously I force myself after watching a film to go through the cast list, so eventually I always know where I've seen that guy (or gal) before, even if it's just when I saw them last. There are a bunch of people in this cast that you can play this game with - THAT guy played Ron Weasley's dad in 7 out of 8 Harry Potter films, for example, and THAT guy was "Mad-Eye" Moody in the same series. And THAT guy played both Kick-Ass and Quicksilver from "Avengers: Age of Ultron" (and young John Lennon in "Nowhere Boy"). There's the girl from the latest "Alice in Wonderland", and if you're a fan of British cinema, you'll probably have better luck recognizing the other women here from films like "The Commitments" and "My Left Foot".
But that's exactly the problem with the lead role, if you ask me. We all recognize Glenn Close's face, we've all just seen her in so many things. So whenever we see Albert Nobbs, who's supposed to read as male to everyone around him, the audience has the inside track to knowing his secret, that he's really female. Close developed this character in a stage play, and it's no fault of her acting that this conceit doesn't fully work, it's a side result of her fame in other films, she's a bit too recognizable. So unfortunately because of this every time I saw her dressed as a man, I still thought of her as a woman.
But, my question then becomes, was I supposed to? Back when this film was set, people didn't understand gender issues quite as well, which is kind of the point. We're not sure if Albert Nobbs qualifies or as transgender, because that word didn't exist. Transvestite is the best word we have, and even that word may not have been a word in the 1800's. Did Albert identify as male, or female? As a straight man or a lesbian women? Even when Albert meets another woman who is passing as a man, this encounter only leads to more uncertainty and more questions, for both him and us. It seems like once Albert finds out that there's another woman who not only dresses and lives as a man but also has a wife, this awakens something inside him and he starts to have fantasies of owning his own tobacco shop and having a wife of his own to run the sweetmeats counter. But what was in Albert's heart before this, just an empty void?
The hardest part for me to believe is not that a woman could pass as a man, but that a person who'd been alive for that long would be so clueless about love and romance in general, and specifically the desires of his own heart. Surely working in a hotel he must have been aware of what people do in hotels, both in public and private - how does he not know the basics of courting, kissing, etc.? And even if he's been celibate all this time, surely there must have been a curiosity about sex at some point in his life, or something he would have read about it in a book, right? It's awfully convenient that the character has led a sexless, emotionless life right up until the point that someone shows him there is a way to be happy. And even then, he develops a fantasy around what he wants, but has no real clue on how to get there.
Still, it's a fascinating look at the gender politics of what, the Victorian era? Just as "The Finest Hours" gave a look at the "women should not be heard from" attitude of 1950's America. Was it just SO important to be polite, and not discuss certain matters in conversation, that Albert was even afraid to ask his close friend what sex with her wife was like?
Also starring Mia Wasikowska (last seen in "Maps to the Stars"), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (last seen in "Godzilla"), Janet McTeer (last seen in "Maleficent"), Pauline Collins (last seen in "From Time to Time"), Brenda Fricker (last seen in "My Left Foot"), Jonathan Rhys Myers (last seen in "Alexander"), Brendan Gleeson (last seen in "Live by Night"), Maria Doyle Kennedy (last seen in "The Commitments"), Mark Williams (last seen in "101 Dalmatians"), Michael McElhatton (last seen in "Justice League"), Serena Brabazon, John Light, Kenneth Collard (last seen in "Anna Karenina"), Judy Donovan, Bronagh Gallagher (last seen in "Tristan + Isolde"), Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Phyllida Law (last seen in "Copying Beethoven").
RATING: 6 out of 10 serving trays
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